Dunbar wins with late comeback at Peñas Blancas as Mas defends Vuelta lead

Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) won stage 19 of the Vuelta a España atop Peñas Blancas after he caught and passed breakaway companion Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) in the final kilometre of the ascent.

Dunbar was the instigator of the break of 16 that reached the final climb with a lead of seven minutes over the peloton, and he joined teammate Thomas Gloag and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) in tracking Buitrago’s attack with 16km to go.

That quartet worked together onto the upper reaches of the climb before Buitrago attacked with intent with 2km remaining. It initially looked like a winning move, but Dunbar struck out in pursuit with 1.5km to go, and he inched closer to Buitrago beneath the flamme rouge.

Dunbar caught the king of the mountains with 500m remaining and immediately blasted past him to claim the third Vuelta of his career at the end of a season that had been marred by injury.

Behind, Primoz Roglic outlined his ambition by having his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad work at the foot of the final climb and he launched an attack at the 2km to go marker.

The red jersey Enric Mas (Movistar) was immediately on his wheel, bringing Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) with him, and there was nothing to separate the top five at the summit. 

Mas retains a lead of 1:37 over Roglic and 3:01 over Gall ahead of the final weekend of the Vuelta.

There was a brisk start to proceedings after the flag dropped in Vélez, with Steven Kruijswijk (Visma) among the flurry of early attackers in the flat and fast opening kilometres. EF Education-EasyPost were prominent in patrolling the peloton, suggesting that Richard Carapaz had designs on testing the waters.

The first climb of the Puerto de las Abejas saw the day’s break begin to take shape, with Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) getting up the road in a group of 13.

Behind, Carapaz attacked in the final kilometre of the climb, bringing Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) with him. They were swiftly reeled in, but it was a sign of things to come.

The average speed after two hours was a blistering 46kph, and the attrition continued on the following Puerto del Viento, where all the escapees bar Dunbar were pegged back. Carapaz tried to get in a move again midway up the ascent, but Gall, Roglič and Mas were all live to the danger.

Dunbar led over the top of the climb, while a group of chasers formed behind him. There was a further frisson when Carapaz tested his podium rivals’ resolve all over again, but even with almost 100km to race, the Ecuadorian was never going to be given much leeway.

Carapaz continued his aggression over the other side, gaining 20 seconds over the red jersey group with help from Darren Rafferty, but he would be pinned back with a shade under 80km to go. 

By that point, Dunbar had company on the front in a sizeable break that included Vermaerke, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Marcel Camprubí, Thomas Gloag (Pinarello-Q36.5), Pau Miquel, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Guillaume Martin, Rudy Molard, Bastien Tronchard (Groupama-FDJ), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), Darren van Bekken (XDS-Astana), Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL), Urko Berrade and Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma). 

After the fierce start to the day, there was détente in the peloton on the long ridge and descent that followed, and the 16 leaders built a lead of 7:30 by the time they hit the foot of the final ascent with 19km to go.

Molard was the first rider to attack, and his effort saw the strongmen emerge before Miquel put in a stint of pacemaking on behalf of his teammate Buitrago, and the Colombian attacked with intent with 13km to go.

Gloag was immediately on his wheel, with his Pinarello teammate Dunbar bridging across a kilometre later before Berrade made it up to form a leading quartet. 

Behind, Red Bull were forcing the pace in the red jersey group on behalf of Roglič on the lower slopes of Peñas Blancas, but the anticipated attack never came and Mas’ Movistar guard took over with 10km of the ascent remaining.